Seven months after the death of 27 migrants when their boat sank in the English Channel, French police have arrested 15 suspected smugglers.
The public prosecutor's office in Paris announced on Thursday that there were 13 men and two women.
One arrested person has already been taken into custody, and nine others are due to be brought before the magistrate on Thursday.
The inflatable boat lost air while crossing from northern France to Great Britain on November 24, and the migrants fell into the water.
A fishing boat discovered the dead floating in the English Channel, including five women and a little girl.
As the newspaper "Le Parisien" reported, those arrested are said to belong to an Afghan smugglers' network, which is said to have collected around 3,000 euros per person for the dangerous crossing.
Those arrested are mostly Afghan and Pakistani nationals.
They are accused of negligent homicide, human trafficking and gang crime, among other things.
The network was formed after the radical Islamic Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021.
As a result, many people tried to leave the country.
The Calais refugee crisis has been going on for years.
The capsizing of the boat caused great dismay.
France and Great Britain, as well as Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, discussed how to deal with the increasing number of migrants entering Great Britain via the English Channel.
However, there is still no solution in sight.
Since Brexit, the relationship between the countries is no longer the best.
Only on Wednesday night did French sea rescuers rescue 84 migrants who had run into problems with two boats off Calais and Le Touquet.